The Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System (LASERS) recently ended the recent fiscal year with a 15.8 percent investment return. This return ranks as one of the best in the history of LASERS, and makes it clear the system is a strong consistent economic stimulus for Louisiana.

Louisiana’s state pension systems are critical to working families and retirees across the state, and also serve as key economic drivers in every city, town and parish in Louisiana. Particularly in rural areas, public pension benefits are a substantial source of the personal income and economic activity.

A lot of retired teachers, troopers, school workers and state government employees will start seeing slightly bigger monthly pension checks starting July 1.

Gov. John Bel Edwards on Thursday signed into law a cost-of-living adjustment for nearly 125,000 pensioners who are over the age of 60 and have been retired at least a year. Most live in the Baton Rouge and New Orleans areas. It’s the first increase in two years.

Senate Bill 2, now called Act 93, distributes the cost-of-living adjustments, called COLAs, based on calculations that rely on the funding levels of the individual retirement systems.

Members of the Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System are in line for a 1.5 percent increase on the first $60,000 of their benefits. Teachers Retirement System of Louisiana members will receive a 1.5 percent hike.

Louisiana School Employees’ Retirement System members get a 2 percent raise as do those with the Louisiana State Police Retirement System. A number of State Police retirees over the age of 65 also are eligible for another 2 percent increase.

Sweeping reforms to the way the state government pays its retired employees were withdrawn Thursday when the sponsor for the four-bill package said he saw the writing on the wall.

Central state Rep. Barry Ivey, who sponsored the four bills that would have worked in concert, said the central point is to change state government retirement from a traditional system that pays retirees a monthly benefit for the rest of their lives to a hybrid model that would include both a pension and a 401(k)-type program, in which the retiree gets only the money invested over time plus any earnings.

Ivey, a Republican, said his plan would put the retirements of state employees more in line with what is offered in the private sector. At the same time, Ivey argued that the hybrid plan would cost taxpayers less and chip away at the near $20 billion difference between the promises made to retirees by the state and the amount of money available to pay those debts, which is called unfunded accrued liability.

Critics, and there were many attending the hearing, disagreed, saying the revamp would cost new state employees more while lowering their benefits in retirement.